I think I gave Little Feet his first heart attack tonight.

As usual, any time I approach the back door, he likes me to pick him up and carry him outside so he can read the news.

So I take him outside, and he starts sniffing the air and looking around. At some point, he looks up and sees the two sparrows nested on a ledge close to our door. He is staring so hard, I'm afraid his eyebrows will catch fire.

I ask him "Would you like a closer look at those birds?", all innocent like. So I lift him to eyeball level with the two birds, one of which is having *nothing* to do with cats today. It flies away with a loud flap of its wings, and narrowly misses Little Feet's right ear.

Well Little Feet nearly does a back flip out of my hands, and I nearly end up with permanent scars on my face and wrists. Fortunately, I am an agile fellow, and manage to get Little Feet to a manageable position with no loss of blood (whew!).

I come back in the house, laughing hard, and sit Little Feet down before I drop him from laughing.

He keeps going back to that door. I think he wants to settle a score with that bird...

Copyright © Mark Edwards
January 19, 2001